Abstract

SANTOS, Lucia Maria de Oliveira; VILAR, Maria José  and  MAIA, Eulália Maria Chaves. Women with sle, depressive symptoms and social support. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2017, vol.18, n.1, pp.39-54. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/17psd180104.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, rare, multisystem autoimmune disease. Researches indicates that SLE can cause significant damage to the psychological realm (Carr et al., 2011; Kulczycka et al., 2009). They also suggest that social support plays an important role in the development of coping strategies, in SLE management and depression. This study has as main objective verify the association between depressive symptoms and perceived social support in patients with SLE. We used a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Scale, and the Perceived Social Support Scale. Participants 79 women with SLE, with an average age of 35.7 years. 55,7% of the participants were married. Only 7,59% had completed higher education and 40,51% have not finished high school. 89,87% had an income below three minimum salaries and 89,87% practiced a religion. 53,17% had depressive symptoms levels from mild to severe. When we examined the perception of social support, the results showed high levels among participants. Using the Spearman correlation test we found a moderate correlation between depressive symptoms and social support (r=-0,45, p<0,001). It means that the higher the frequency of support, the lower the score of depression. These findings are relevant because depressive symptoms in patients with SLE have a multicausal and multifactorial character and may remain unnoticed, since many of them are confused with the manifestations of the disease. They also corroborate other studies, which not only confirm the predictive role of social support in the physical wellbeing, but also in the psychological.

Keywords : Lupus; women; depression; Health Psychology.

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